1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to object protection against unguided medium-calibre projectiles and/or subsonic medium-calibre projectiles with electric impact fuses which are axially arranged at the front with two-dimensional connection cables for connecting to the ignition chain, the object to be protected having a protective layer with metallic bodies which are arranged in a matrix and project from a surface.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the Second World War, for the first time projectiles with hollow charges were used against armored targets. This was done on one hand by the US armed forces (a weapon referred to as a bazooka) and on the other hand by Germany (referred to as “Panzerfaust” and “Panzerschreck”). Propellents such as charges and propellant cartridges served to accelerate the projectiles. Then Russia developed a widely-used weapon, referred to as an RPG (rocket-propelled grenade). This is still used today, in a version produced since 1961, above all in the field of asymmetric warfare as type RPG-7, with very widely-varying hollow charges. Whereas the early systems had mechanical impact fuses, the more recent ones are equipped with piezoelectric ignition devices at the front and have planar, galvanically conductive connection cables between the ignition generator and the ignition chain. These relatively simple, usually rocket-propelled, medium-calibre projectiles are widely used throughout the world and represent an enormous risk potential; they are inexpensive to acquire, easy to handle and are used in very widely-varying embodiments against stationary and mobile objects, in particular against lightly armored vehicles.
In addition to very widely-varying active and passive armor-plating, as early as 1940 (DE-A-688 526) solid steel rods and prismatic bodies were placed on the object to be protected, which were intended to deflect in particular projectiles from anti-tank guns. A further development thereof (DT-A1-26 01 562) used special heat-resistant materials and also armor plating with solid bodies arranged in a matrix and projecting from a surface (FIG. 1 and FIG. 2), in order to keep the exothermic effect of explosive charges away from the object to be protected.
Both aforementioned protective arrangements have the disadvantage that although they to a certain degree reduce the destructive effect of the projectiles for example of an impacting and ignited hollow charge, they cannot prevent the initiation thereof.